Hashim (not his real name) and other refugees want refugees’ rights and dignity protected by the UNHCR and the International community under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They have been living in the Nayapara official refugee camp for over 20 years, however, their lives are made difficult by severe restrictions imposed by the camp officials.
For instance, legally, they are not allowed to leave the camp by the front gate because their movements are closely controlled by the camp authorities by an order recently issued by the Camp-in-Charge (CIC), Saiful Islam Mujamder, and Police Inspector Nurul Islam, which stated that refugees are strictly prohibited from leaving the camp without permission.
Hashim fled along with his family members to Bangladesh from his home, Araka, in Arakan State, Burma, 20 years ago because of persecution by the military and border security force.
Now, the twenty-six year old wants to work so he can provide for the family of four, which is only possible if he can leave the camp.
“The World Food Program (WFP) provides us a food ration which includes dal, oil, salt, and sugar, but it doesn’t provide fish and beef and other necessary commodities. So, if I want good fish and beef, I must go out of the camp to work for money and to buy fish or meat,” he said in an interview.
“But, I and other refugees cannot leave. When we sneak outside the camp illegally, locals attack and rob us and the camp security personnel try to arrest us when we try to sneak back inside. We are not safe inside the camp or outside. How can this be? The camp is supervised by the UNHCR and the Bangladesh government. I should have the right to work to feed my family members,” Hashim said.
He also said the Rohingya refugees have a big problem obtaining the necessary food items to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Another refugee wants to ask the UNHCR,“Where do the camp security personnel get the right to use force to harass the oppressed refugees?”
Kabir Ahamed, 32, a registered refugee from Block-C of Nayapara camp, was arrested by security police on July 12, as he tried to re-enter the camp illegally after he went outside to buy something from the market in Teknaf, according to a refugee youth from the camp.
He was charged with leaving the camp without permission and spent 5 days in the Cox’s Bazar jail, before being released on bail.
On the morning of July 25, another registered refugee, Ozi Ullah, (20), block-E, hut No. 961/3 of Nayapara official camp, went to Teknaf to sell some family jewellery because of a family financial crisis. When he tried to re-enter the camp from the rear gate about 6:30 pm he was severely beaten and stabbed by local Bangali thugs who robbed him of 12,000 Taka and a mobile phone.
A Camp Committee member told Kaladan Press many refugees have been robbed by the local people, however, no action has been taken by the camp security personnel or the Camp-in-Charge.
As well, a camp Refugee Committee member said, “We don’t get proper treatment at the Nayapara Clinic and doctors don’t pay any attention to the refugee patients. And doctors, including the Medical Team Leader (MTL), scold and rebuke refugees who frequently go to clinic with different types of diseases.”
The committee member also said a registered Rohingya refugee woman, very ill for several months, died in the Nayapara clinic on July 30, after receiving an injection.
”On July 30, at 4:30 pm, when the patient’s condition became serious, she was admitted to the Nayapara Health Centre again, and she received an injection. After the injection, she died on the spot within two minutes.”
He said the woman’s husband is very suspicious that the injection caused her death.
A UNHCR report says the presence of some 28,700 refugees residing in the two camps of Kutupalong and Nayapara, in the south-eastern district of Cox's Bazar, constitutes one of the most protracted refugee situations in the world.
“We face the same problems and persecutions from the Bangladeshi authorities in the camps that we faced from the Burmese military in Arakan State”, said one refugee on condition of anonymity.
A shopkeeper from Nayapara refugee camp said on condition of anonymity, that camp security forces and police recently entered the camp and arrested innocent refugees and destroyed grocery shops owned by refugees in the camp.
“A group of 70 camp security personnel, led by Police Inspector Nurul Islam and Camp-in-Charge (CIC) Saiful Islam Mujamder, entered the camp and conducted an operation against the grocery shops,” he said.
“This kind of harassment is increasing day by day. What will the refugees will do in the future and where is it safe for them?”
“We have been living in small huts with six and seven family members at Nayapara refugee camp since 1991. I want to ask the international community how long we should be forced to live like animals?” a schoolteacher from the camp asked during an interview.
